Facebook acknowledges discrepancy that had overstated a video view metric

In a lengthy Facebook post, Mr. Fischer chalked the error up to an invalid equation that generated the metric. The metric should have been calculated by diving the total time spent watching a video by the total number of people who played the video. Instead it used a formula that divided the total time spent watching a video by the number of “views” of a video. Basically, instead of dividing by number of plays, it was divided by the number of “views” (when the video was played for three or more seconds). This error has now been fixed.

Of course, this math led to inflated stats for the “average duration of video viewed” metric. Thankfully, this math error had no impact on any other reporting, and it has had no impact on numbers that Facebook has shared in the past. Marketers, if you have been relying on the average duration of video viewed metric, brace yourself, as lower numbers are imminent. Thankfully, all other metrics are unscathed.

For the apology and explanation behind the error, please see the full Facebook post from Mr. Fisher.

About The Author

Greg Finn

Greg Finn is the Director of Marketing for Cypress North, a company that provides world-class social media and search marketing services and web & application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 10+ years and specializes in Digital Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.